IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE CHRISTMAS

posted on December 11th, 2012 at 12:12 PM by Steven Stanley


For many Americans, it simply wouldn’t be December without an annual viewing of the Bing Crosby/Danny Kaye holiday movie classic White Christmas, and for the past eight years, theatergoers have been able to experience this seasonal favorite live and in person in its delightful stage adaptation, retitled Irving Berlin’s White Christmas and now playing at Rolling Hills Estates’ Norris Theatre.
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posted in Musical, South Bay, WOW!

WINTER WONDERETTES

posted on December 10th, 2012 at 2:53 PM by Steven Stanley


The marvelous Winter Wonderettes are back, and spending the holidays at the La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts, bringing their delightful, tuneful blend of comedy, harmony, nostalgia, and seasonal melodies to old and young alike for yet another Christmas season.
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posted in Downey/La Mirada, Musical, WOW!

CAROUSEL

posted on December 10th, 2012 at 2:53 PM by Steven Stanley


Rodgers and Hammerstein may have had their first (and longest-running) Broadway smash with Oklahoma! The Sound Of Music may well be their best-loved hit, thanks in large measure to the big-screen Julie Andrews movie classic. South Pacific and The King And I may each have their passionate fans, among which this reviewer counts himself. Be that as it may, in my humble opinion, none of the above quite match the overall brilliance and innovation of the extraordinary Carousel, R&H’s second Broadway hit.

It is this 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein classic that the enormously talented students o“Ballet.” Cal State Fullerton’s illustrious Musical Theatre BFA program now bring back to powerful, gorgeous life for 21st Century audiences.
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posted in Musical, Orange County, WOW!

RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDOORS

posted on December 8th, 2012 at 12:45 PM by Steven Stanley


It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and for Los Angeles theatergoers that means the latest annual Troubies Christmas show at Burbank’s Falcon Theatre.

Last year’s A Christmas Westside Story mixed the music of West Side Story with the plot of the family film classic A Christmas Story. 2010’s The First Jo-el recounted that starry Bethlehem December with the music of Billy Joel. And 2009’s Frosty The Snow Manilow recreated the stop-motion animated TV classic with the music of Barry M—all of the above with the audacious flair, plethora of adlibs (or apparent adlibs), and sensational triple-threat performances that have become The Troubadour Theater Company’s stock in trade.

This year’s Rudolph The Red-Nosed ReinDOORS is no exception.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Musical, WOW!

THE LAST ROMANCE

posted on December 5th, 2012 at 12:30 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
There’s no age limit on love in Joe DiPietro’s charming, funny, and very romantic The Last Romance, now getting a rather good Los Angeles Premiere at Beverly Hills’ Theatre 40.
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posted in Comedy, Recommended, West Side/Beverly HIlls

THE SANTALAND DIARIES (UNDERSTUDY PERFORMANCE)

posted on December 5th, 2012 at 11:16 AM by Steven Stanley

That practice makes perfect was proven on Wednesday by the multitalented Matt Crabtree in the last of his Guaranteed Understudy Performances in David Sedaris’s The SantaLand Diaries, the true story of the writer’s humiliating (but hilarious-in-retrospect) stint as a Christmas elf at New York City Macy’s “SantaLand.”  With two performances under his belt last year, and another two this holiday season (including a last-minute step-in for Paulo Andino the previous Thursday), this fifth and (possibly) final understudy performance turned out just about as fabulous as fabulous can be.
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posted in Comedy, Hollywood/West Hollywood, Solo Performance, Theater Review, WOW!

LEGS DIAMOND

posted on December 4th, 2012 at 6:28 PM by Steven Stanley


Legs Diamond died twice, the first time in a mob shootout on December 18, 1931, and then a second time on February 19, 1989, when the musical bearing the Prohibition-era gangster’s name died an ignominious death inside the soon-to-be-defunct-itself Mark Hellinger Theatre, the victim of too much hurried rewriting and a leading man who wasn’t quite the triple-threat the role of Legs required.

End of story, right?

Wrong, though it would have been without Michael Betts, co-producer of Musical Theatre West’s Reiner Reading Series, who fell in love with the musical’s Original Broadway Cast recording and refused to let go of a dream to bring Legs back to life, even if for One Night Only, a dream which came miraculously true on Sunday, December 2, 2012.
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posted in Concert Staged Reading, Long Beach/San Pedro, WOW!

IN THE HEIGHTS

posted on December 3rd, 2012 at 2:12 PM by Steven Stanley


In The Heights, the Tony-winning Best Musical of 2008, now gets its very first Los Angeles regional staging—an under-the-radar intimate production in L.A.’s own (Boyle) Heights that is so sensational it deserves to be on any musical theater fan’s radar throughout the month of December, and hopefully beyond.
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posted in Los Angeles, Musical, WOW!

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